Indian Casinos Have No Future in Ohio

(Beachwood, Ohio)- MyOhioNow.com which is seeking to pass Issue Six which would allow a $600 million resort/casino in southwest Ohio, will be the only casino in Ohio if the initiative passes on November 4th.

“The definitive authority of Indian gaming is the Federal agency, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) which is under the auspices of the Department of Interior. They have told us that since there is no federally recognized tribe or tribal land in Ohio, there is no possibility of any tribal gaming in Ohio. We have also consulted experts in the field of Indian gaming to verify all facts” said Rick Lertzman, co-founder of MyOhioNow.com.

Kevin Quigley, an attorney of the law firm Hamilton, Quigley and Twait, specializes in Indian gaming law. Mr. Quigley has compiled a list of five areas on why Indian casinos will not be allowed in Ohio.

1. There are no federally recognized tribes located in Ohio.

2. Any tribe wanting to establish a gaming facility in Ohio (a) would first have to get the federal government to approve its acquisition for trust land in Ohio, and (b) the government has just announced new land policies that make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to get such gaming lands approved.

3. No tribe has ever been approved for new off-reservation gaming lands outside the state where it is located.

4. The process for approving gaming lands is very complicated and time consuming, often taking 5 years or more.

5. Even if the federal government were to ever approve a gaming land application in Ohio many years down the road, the tribe (a) could not begin to conduct any gaming on the land unless and until the Governor first agreed to the trust land acquisition, and (b) could not conduct high stakes Vegas style gaming on the land until the Governor also has negotiated and agreed to sign a compact agreement permitting such gaming

Dr. Bradford A. Pressman, co-founder of MyOhioNow.com concluded, “Our approach has always been to be open and honest about this project. From disclosure of our partners at Lakes Entertainment to clearly letting the voters know that this is a full scale casino, our intent is to always respond to any questions or misinformation about this issue. Our facility will be built with private sector dollars and will be the largest private investment in Ohio in the 21st century, with NO tax abatements or credits. We are proud of this fact.”

"Further, Ohio's General Assembly and Governor would have to pass a law, with majorities in both Houses, to approve any Tribal Petition. This has been tried multiple times over the years, and because there are no Federally recognized Tribes in Ohio, has failed. Only by an Act of The Legislature could the state recognize a Tribe in Ohio, and in 205 years, that has not happened and will not happen," said Dr. Pressman.

The MyOhioNow.com project is a joint venture with Lakes Entertainment (NASDAQ: LACO) of Minnesota who are operators of premier gaming facilities. The $600,000,000 casino/resort destination site that is located off I-71 (at State Route 73) that is centrally in Clinton County. The full text of the initiative and more information about the project is available at www.MyOhioNow.com

because it breaks the state's complete monopoly on gaming. I'm still pissed at the state for declaring skill games illegal and then turning around and introducing KENO to help cover it's budget shortfall.

If this issue passes, the very next day dozens of other entrepreneuers throughout Ohio will start the same process. I'm a beleiver that gaming should be offered everywhere. Wouldn't a Greektown Style Casino fill the black hole at southwyck nicely.

I like the way the radio ads properly say this will be "Ohio's first casino".

In order to break state control, you are willing to give one group the rights to all other gambling in Ohio? If this issue passes, they will have the other monopoly. If another group wanted to build a casino here, they will not be able to. And if they tried to go to a ballot in order to get on, you can bet this group will use all means to protect their monopoly. NW Ohioans will still go out of state to play, as Detroit is closer. I'll be voting no. I'll vote yes when the state is opened to all comers, like Nevada. Until then I won't be enriching a small group of Minnesotans who want total control.

Being part Aniyunwiya (Cherokee), I couldn't help but comment on this.

A little history:

In August of 1795, the United States signed the Greenville Treaty (in Greenville Ohio, just west of Dayton) with 12 Nations of Native Americans. In a nutshell, the Treaty set forth - in great detail - which land was to belong to the White Man & which lands were to be Native American. (May I point out that much of NW Ohio still 'belongs' to these Nations!)

I quote, in part, from Article 4 of the Treaty:In consideration of the peace now established, and of the cessions and relinquishments of lands made in the preceding article by the said tribes of Indians, and to manifest the liberality of the United States, as the great means of rendering this peace strong and perpetual, the United States relinquish their claims to all other Indian lands northward of the river Ohio, eastward of the Mississippi, and westward and southward of the Great Lakes and the waters, uniting them, according to the boundary line agreed on by the United States and the King of Great Britain, in the treaty of peace made between them in the year 1783. But from this relinquishment by the United States, the following tracts of land are explicitly excepted: ..."

To date, the Greenville Treaty has never been altered, amended or has any agreement been made to give the White Man what was once Native land. The state of Ohio chooses to ignore history and (as is typical of the government) ignores that which was agreed upon.

The government has yet to honor ANY Treaties signed with the Native American's, so the state of Ohio's denial of any 'federally recognized tribe or tribal land in Ohio' doesn't surprise me, and only serves to reinforce my distrust and utter contempt of the government.

Most still are around in Kansas, Oklahoma, Michigan, and other parts of the U.S. and Canada.

Then, there's the Indian Removal Act

"Indian Removal was a nineteenth century policy of the government of the United States that sought to relocate Native American tribes living east of the Mississippi River to lands west of the river.

The reasoning behind the removal of Native Americans was Americans' hunger for land (stemming from Andrew Jackson’s talk of “agriculture, manufacture, and civilization”), though not all Americans supported the policy as many poor white frontiersmen were neighbors and often friends to the Native Americans. Principally, it was the result of Americans who envisioned a cultivated and organized nation of prospering cities and productive communities which fueled the forces of removal."

And Jackson is on the $20 bill!
*%#@ that! I think I'll start refusing $20 bills!

(And, for the record, 'Native American' is preferred to 'Indian'. Thanks to the misadventure of that Italian guy - Columbus - trying to find a way to the Indies, landing instead somewhere in the Bahama's. Thinking that he'd reached his goal, he and his crew began calling the indigenous people 'Indians'. As I tell those that call me an 'Indian': "Indians have dots on their foreheads. Do you see one on mine?")

Ummmmm.....my Lakota, Odawa, Objiway, Huron friends, prefer to be called by their names and if one finds the need or reason to refer to their ancestry, then they prefer to be called what they are, people first, and then the tribal or band reference.

No snideness on my part, just what I have learned.

My ex-wife's father and family came from Abanaki lands in Canada and many up in the Great White North, prefer First Nation peoples, or just call them by their names.

People so taken back when they realize that not all the people of the land were killed off and react by saying, that so and so is an indian, with wide eyes.

The people at the top of the wealth and power pyramid are DESTROYING us.

MONEY IS POWER. DON'T GIVE THE KIND OF SELFISH PEOPLE WHO SAY TO THEMSELVES...
"Hey, I think I'll dedicate myself to a money making scheme that might get me millions, or, as in the case of Nevada's Sheldon Adelson, billions! All at the expense of the American people, including families, and tax payers. Who cares, the hell with everyone else. And I can even whitewash it all, by claiming it creates jobs. That's right, I can make a fool of the American public and get rich at the same time! Isn't it great?"...
MORE POWER.

These television character villains are no role models. Greed is over rated.

Well informed American patriots are courageously trying to fight back against these manipulators. Sadly, the struggle often looks bleak on all fronts. Battles are lost on a daily basis. But gratefully, some battles are indeed won. The noble effort continues. History is not yet written.

I see Ohio issue 6 as one of these battles. Small as it may seem in the scheme of things, in times like these, every victory must me cherished.

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